‘The officials are the ones who lose sleep’

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. — Blown offside calls led to game-winning goals in two of the first five games at the Memorial Cup, dominating conversation at the junior hockey championship Wednesday as one executive conceded “the officials are the ones who lose sleep over it.”

The latest missed call occurred in overtime Tuesday night to help the Kootenay Ice avoid elimination from the tournament, four days after officials fumbled another major decision on opening night. Players and coaches have battled frustration, biting their tongues.

“I don’t think you can blow out of proportion a mistake that directly results in a goal,” Ontario Hockey League vice-president Ted Baker said Wednesday. “We’re not trying to hide from anything. This official has had no issues.”

Linesman Kevin Hastings was the official under the spotlight Tuesday, when he missed a call four minutes into the first overtime period of Kootenay’s round-robin finale against the Saint John Sea Dogs. Centre Max Reinhart stopped a weak clearing attempt with his right skate — inches past the blue line — before dumping it back down the boards to Matt Fraser, who scored the winner to keep the previously winless Ice in contention.

Hastings was perched on the blue line, but on the opposite side of the ice, away from the play. Television replays suggested his view of the play might have been obscured.

“He’s a professional,” Baker said. “He works in the American Hockey League, as well as the OHL. This is his fourth Memorial Cup. He’s got a tremendous wealth of experience, and he — among everyone — feels the worst that a mistake was made that led to the game-winning goal.”

Saint John had already booked passage directly to Sunday’s final by virtue of its 2-0 start to the week. One of those wins was earned on the back of another blown offside call, and led to a 4-3 regulation win over the host Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors.

“Obviously, you’d never want to see somebody finish their season on a bad call, whether it’s a slashing call or an offside,” Kootenay coach Kris Knoblauch said. “You want to see the best from the players and you want to see a team to play their best. You ultimately want to have a game where everyone’s at their best — and that includes the officials.”

Baker said none of the on-ice officials working with the Canadian Hockey League count hockey as their full-time job. He said all officials are reviewed after each Memorial Cup game, and that each official must “earn” the privilege of working in the tournament.
One person familiar with the officials said Hastings was visibly unhappy with the way the events unfolded on Tuesday.

“From a league standpoint, you never want to see that happen,” Baker said. “The officials are the ones who lose sleep over it.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, he said the roster of officials for the knockout round had not been determined. The Owen Sound Attack and the Majors were set to meet Wednesday, with the winner advancing to the semi-final on Friday, and with the loser having to play the Ice in the tiebreaker on Thursday.

“The reality of it is, the speed of the game and the human factor causes players, coaches and officials to make mistakes,” Majors coach Dave Cameron said. “When you take the emotion out of it, you know that none of them are doing it intentionally, and there is nobody who feels worse than they do.”

Dave Lewis and Scott Ferguson were the referees on the ice for Tuesday night’s game, and they were also part of the crew Cameron had criticized for “refereeing the score” in the OHL championship series against the Attack. The OHL fined Mississauga $2,500 for the comments.

“It’s doesn’t make it right that a mistake has been made, but we understand that mistakes are made during the course of a game,” Baker said. “If a player gives away a puck in the defensive zone and it doesn’t end up in his net, the coach can talk to him about it the next day through video and say, ‘we don’t want this to happen, here’s how you improve it.’

“It’s the same thing with officials. But when a goal is scored on it, a player is put more in the spotlight, and that official is put more in the spotlight.”